as in shrimp
a person of no importance or influence
the magazine's editor in chief was notorious for treating staffers as insects, often not even bothering to learn their names
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Recent Examples of insects
Ecologically, spiders are important predators of crawling insects.
—
Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Oct. 2025
Their bark is ridged and furrowed, giving insects room to proliferate.
—Sophie Hartley, IndyStar, 29 Oct. 2025
Determining the species of necrophagous flies (the kind that alight on a body, then lay eggs there) and other insects isn't always easy, though, and forensic entomology is such a specialized discipline that few law enforcement agencies have ready access to an expert in the field.
—Phaedra Trethan, USA Today, 29 Oct. 2025
Otherwise, lady beetles and ladybugs can actually help out your garden by eating up aphids, the small and sap-sucking insects that can kill off plants.
—Maia Pandey, jsonline.com, 29 Oct. 2025
The small flowers provide an important source of nectar for butterflies, bees, and numerous other beneficial insects.
—Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 27 Oct. 2025
Let stems of perennials stand over winter to support native insects and wildlife.
—Erica Browne Grivas, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 Oct. 2025
The bee attack in Guyana comes just months after 24 people were left injured when the flying insects suddenly attacked in the French town of Aurillac, local authorities in the south-central French Prefecture of Cantal confirmed to the Associated Press at the time.
—Desiree Anello, PEOPLE, 25 Oct. 2025
To test the effect of static charge on airborne nematodes, Ortega-Jiménez tethered living fruit flies to a live copper wire and adjusted the voltage between 100 and 700 volts, comparable to what insects would generate in the wild.
—Cody Cottier, Scientific American, 23 Oct. 2025
Jasmine Laws, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Oct. 2025
Their bark is ridged and furrowed, giving insects room to proliferate.
—Sophie Hartley, IndyStar, 29 Oct. 2025
Determining the species of necrophagous flies (the kind that alight on a body, then lay eggs there) and other insects isn't always easy, though, and forensic entomology is such a specialized discipline that few law enforcement agencies have ready access to an expert in the field.
—Phaedra Trethan, USA Today, 29 Oct. 2025
Otherwise, lady beetles and ladybugs can actually help out your garden by eating up aphids, the small and sap-sucking insects that can kill off plants.
—Maia Pandey, jsonline.com, 29 Oct. 2025
The small flowers provide an important source of nectar for butterflies, bees, and numerous other beneficial insects.
—Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 27 Oct. 2025
Let stems of perennials stand over winter to support native insects and wildlife.
—Erica Browne Grivas, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 Oct. 2025
The bee attack in Guyana comes just months after 24 people were left injured when the flying insects suddenly attacked in the French town of Aurillac, local authorities in the south-central French Prefecture of Cantal confirmed to the Associated Press at the time.
—Desiree Anello, PEOPLE, 25 Oct. 2025
To test the effect of static charge on airborne nematodes, Ortega-Jiménez tethered living fruit flies to a live copper wire and adjusted the voltage between 100 and 700 volts, comparable to what insects would generate in the wild.
—Cody Cottier, Scientific American, 23 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for insects
Noun
-
The movie, which posits an impending nuclear strike on a major American city, is a flimsy yet high-minded piece of doomsday schlock, largely populated by ciphers in suits and drained of the pulp pleasures that schlock, at its best, can afford.—
Justin Chang,
New Yorker,
14 Oct. 2025
-
Such ciphers are easy to crack using techniques such as checking letter frequency and identifying common patterns.—
PC Magazine,
PC Magazine,
7 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Hughes is one of the world's top lightweights in MMA, the sport where McGregor built his following and name.—
Brian Mazique,
Forbes.com,
19 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
Professional athletes, however, aren’t nobodies.—
Joe Kozlowski,
MSNBC Newsweek,
14 Oct. 2025
-
More importantly, the narrative explores both sides of the conflict from the POV of grunts and 'nobodies' trying to navigate the post-Civil War state of the galaxy before the fighting stops.—
Fran Ruiz,
Space.com,
4 Aug. 2025
Noun
-
Fighting off hordes of alien monstrosities AND digging for rare minerals in outer space as a crew of beer-swilling, ass kicking space dwarves?—
Fran Ruiz,
Space.com,
6 Oct. 2025
-
And all these dwarves and elves and humans go, ‘What?—
Elisabeth Garber-Paul,
Rolling Stone,
2 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Insects.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/insects. Accessed 5 Nov. 2025.
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